president george h. w. bush is in hospital intensive care. the 88-year-old has a fever. his spokesman says that he is still alert and talking to his doctors but he has been battling bronchitis' more than a month. president obama has cut short his christmas holiday and is on his way back to washington for the fiscal cliff talks. without a deal, budget cuts and tax rises will automatically start on january 1. a senior congressional reporter with the american news service "politico," says while he is doubtful they will strike a deal before next year, obama and democrats have the upper hand. >> they know that the polls are on their side, that a majority of americans would blame the republicans for the failure, and they know that -- they say president obama was just reelected on a mandate to raise taxes on the stockton% of income earners and the republican party is dead set against tax increases. -- on the top 2% of incoming earners. he wants to raise taxes on folks making more than a million dollars, but that was not enough for democrats and that was too much for lot of repu